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Paid Search Results Rife With Spyware
from the how-do-I-get-rid-of-this dept
Click fraud is a growing problem for paid-search providers, but they're also faced with growing consumer resentment over the number of listings that lead to malware. While companies like Google and Microsoft are vocal in their distaste for spyware, some people feel they're paying little more than lip service. The original article points out that Microsoft even went so far as to sue one alleged spyware maker over its business practices, but continued to return its advertisements on the MSN web site. It also reports that users in the Google Group for the anti-"badware" initiative it's supporting are raising questions about some of the contextual ads on the group's pages. Like advertisers suing Google for click fraud, critics allege the company has no motivation to stop the practice, since it profits from it. On their own, these issues may not be huge. But when they're taken into account alongside other bouts of bad publicity, they could become a tipping point for the likes of Google.
Reader Comments
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Some related work & examples
I agree that this is a big problem, and that consumers are rightly getting fed up with it.
Some representative recent examples:
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Re: Some related work & examples
Thanks for the links, Ben. ANd you're right on the Infoworld piece, I got it mixed with all the others.
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No Subject Given
I think that google would be better served keeping it's sponsored links squeaky-clean. That would make them seem more reliable, making people more likely to click on one. So they would therefore be more valuable
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A registration-free link to the InfoWorld article
For those seeking to read the InfoWorld article, but not wanting to register, see this registration-free link.
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No Subject Given
Google is evil. Fuck them
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google
Not only does searching for FireFox on Google lead to sponsored ads where users pay $39 to download FireFox. Google also shows sponsored ads that pull up a page full of Google ads and a Google sponsored download FireFox link where the site owner gets $1 per download, not to mention money from the Google ads. I just wonder how much he pays for the sponsored link on search results and if his income from the $1 per download on FireFox pays for it.
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Re: google
What are you talking about? Have you actually tried searching? There are a multitude of places to download firefox for free and one sponsered ad for amazon selling firefox the movie.
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Never have, never will.
I use a search engine to find *real* results - not results presented to me because some grubbing bastard paid them to show the link to me no matter what the hell I searched for. I *never* click on a paid sponsor ad. Never. Period.
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Re: Never have, never will.
Amen.
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Re: Never have, never will.
Merlin is right. I _never_ click on those spyware-filled Google ads. To all you new people out there, don't click on -any- of those Google or Yahoo ads because most of them are spyware...funny that those companies claim to not know that.
If you want free reliable software with no spyware or ads in it, try Nonags http://www.ded.com/nonags/menu.html. I have used them for at least 8 years and never got any spyware or adware and I have downloaded hundreds of programs there.
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